Partners
by Bullet2tm
Summary: AU. Zero is demoted from detective to a job as a desk worker in the Police Department and despite his first impression of his partner, a young girl named Yuuki, was less than desirable, his feelings soon change. Please read and review. ZeroxYuuki


**A/N: **_AU story. Please read and review. _

**Partners**

**Chapter 1: Partners?**

* * *

"Yuuki!" yelled a girl from across the road.

The brown eyed woman turned her head and smiled; recognising her best friend immediately. She tried running, however failed due to her uniform being quite tight around her legs. Today she wore a light grey dress suit, and the skirt was a bit tight for her liking.

As she half ran toward her friend, her long brown tresses flew behind her which showed just how long and beautiful her hair was. It was a pity she was required to wear it up all the time for her job.

"Yori-chan! I didn't expect to see you here today, where are you off to?" asked Yuuki with a kind smile. "You look well."

Sayori smiled and hugged Yuuki quickly before said person could register what her friend was doing. Her brown orbs were full of surprise and yet, she welcomed the hug like she had never had a hug in her life.

"I'm sorry Yori-chan, I have to head off as I'm already late," frowned Yuuki, adjusting her black handbag over her shoulder.

Sayori shook head with an assuring smile. "It's no problem. Maybe we could catch up later? I'll call you," said Sayori, waving goodbye as Yuuki raced toward her destination.

Yuuki ran around the corner and pushed open the large glass doors to her place of work. Several people waved and said 'hello' to her on her way toward the lift.

As Yuuki raced to the lift, it was closing.

"Could you hold the lift please?" she almost begged the man residing inside it, but he simply looked away as the doors closed.

_W-who exactly was that? He had such cold eyes, and they were of an odd colour too,_ she thought as she began frantically pressing the up button on the lift. And he had looked straight at her too...how mean!

Yuuki finally decided to go up the stairs since the lift was taking forever to come back down to the Ground floor. As she opened the exit door, her eyes widened as she saw her boss storming over toward her.

"Yuuki!" he exclaimed, motioning her to come into his office.

Yuuki rolled her eyes. Everytime she came into the office in the morning, he wanted to talk to her! Honestly, anyone who didn't know him would think that he wasn't fit to be the Chief of the Police Department. And the way he would ramble and ask her to call her 'Daddy' all the time was ridiculous, despite the fact that technically he was her father due to him adopting her at an early age, but she was nearly twenty years old now!

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute," said Yuuki, placing her things in her cubicle before following her father into his office.

The young woman's brow began to twitch in realisation at the person who was sitting in front of her father's desk.

"Chief, what is _he_ doing here?" exclaimed Yuuki, pointing at the cold silver haired man rudely.

The said man turned and narrowed his eyes at her but something about his expression told her that he recognised her too.

"This is Zero. Zero Kiryuu. He is being put in your department and will be sitting opposite you from now on," explained the Chief.

"And what is it exactly that I'll be doing?" questioned Zero, as he eyed Yuuki up and down with scrutiny.

Yuuki also observed the young man that had rudely ignored her in the lift and noticed that he seemed to look pretty fit and looked more suited for field work. He wore a black leather jacket, a loose buttoned up grey shirt, a loose black tie, and black jeans with sneakers, not to mention his hair was messy as hell. What would possess him to dress so casually for desk work?

"Desk work," finished the Chief. "By the way, my name is Kaien Cross, the Chief of this Police Department and as you know, you've been demoted to desk work. Its unfortunate but you have to deal with it."

Zero's lavender coloured orbs widened, realising his situation.

_Damn you Shizuka,_ he thought to himself as he clenched his fists at his side. He had a feeling that _bitch_ would do something this low to him, because of what happened and now he was stuck at a desk job with this weird girl. Just great.

"Tch. What ever," said Zero as he got up and walked out without another word.

The Chief sighed and looked to his daughter with a soft smile. "You have to look out for him, Yuuki. Help him along; protect him," said Kaien, adjusting his glasses once more.

He sat at his desk and pulled some files toward him, getting ready to sign them. _Just what did you do to piss the top Brass off, Zero?_ he thought.

Yuuki had watched her father for a few seconds, trying to understand his request. Since when would she need to protect someone as tough as Zero? From the looks of him he was quite capable, however there was something about the Chief's words that lingered in her mind, making her feel like she should listen and do as he asked.

* * *

Three hours had passed and Yuuki was so frustrated with the man in front of her she couldn't even put words to it.

"What are you doing Zero?" she asked, taking a deep breath from fear of telling her what she truly felt at the moment.

The silver haired man, whom was standing at the photocopier shrugged his shoulders as he stared at the machine which was now jammed. He kicked it and was now contemplating shooting it with his 9mm hand gun which was safely holstered beneath his black leather jacket. He pulled out the gun and pointed it at the machine.

"Zero!" exclaimed Yuuki, pulling the gun out of his hand quickly.

Zero's purple orbs narrowed at the young woman. She was going to yell at him, he could just tell. That was his aim. He was trying to frustrate her so much she would quit or at least ask that he be put back to where he belonged; in the field. But as her hands brushed against his own, he pulled back.

"Oi! What the hell, Yuuki?" he exclaimed with a scowl. "Give that back."

He advanced toward her, stopping a mere half a metre in front of her. Yuuki was now back up against the wall behind the photocopier; just left of it. Zero towered over her and snatched the gun out of her hands and glanced back at the photocopier. Just how else could you un-jam this mechanism?

Yuuki let out a breath she was holding in. She wouldn't have surprised if he had hit her for taking the gun away from him like that, in fact, she was surprised she did it at all. Yuuki just knew that she couldn't let anything happen to that photocopier since the last time they were waiting a week for a replacement.

"Look, I know it can be frustrating waiting for it to print, but if you look at the screen it tells you what you have to do to un-jam something," explained Yuuki with a reformed smile. "Here I'll show you."

Zero watched the woman work. She bent down, opening a compartment and pulled out a mangled and wrinkled piece of paper and shoved it into Zero's hands. He was so surprised with the action and that it was so simple he didn't reject it. Now he knew why desk work was always the most hated job in the Police Department.

Yuuki walked past him without a word. He watched her go back to sit at her desk; his expression unreadable at the moment as his purple orbs were fixated on her. Just how much more of this shit would he be able to take? He wanted to desperately work on a case, but now that would never be possible.

A few more hours past and the two were sitting at their desks silently. Yuuki sat with her back toward the exit of the cubicle, and his desk was facing hers with their computers back to back.

"So is this what you do all day? Answer the phone, photocopy stuff and do typing stuff on the computer?" he asked boredly.

Yuuki, whom he couldn't see due to the computer hiding her on the other side, tilted her head to the side and leaned slightly so she could see Zero's neutral face. Her expression however was far from neutral. Was he really trying to annoy her? He made it sound like she didn't actually do much.

"I suppose when you put it like that it doesn't sound much but-"

"Its exactly as it sounds. It sucks. This is the most boring day I've ever had in my life!" he exclaimed, placing his big booted feet onto his desk with his hands behind his head, as if he were relaxing.

"And what exactly do you normally do?" she asked, pulling a strand of her long brown locks behind her ear.

"Field work, obviously," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, so you got demoted then," she said with a satisfied smile on her face.

Zero narrowed his eyes suddenly. He pulled his legs off the desk and walked out of the cubicle, heading for the lift. Yuuki sighed with regret. _How could I say something like that? When did I get so unempathetic?_

Yuuki got out of her chair and raced down the hall of cubicles and toward the lift. Zero was already in the lift and the doors were closing...AGAIN! However this time, she held her arm in between them, causing them to open. She walked in a little out of breath, and took off her suit coat, folding it neatly on her left arm.

"I-I'm sorry Zero," she apologised weakly, bowing her head respectfully toward him. As her eyes came back up to meet his she could see something in them that she just couldn't figure out.

"For what?" he asked, as he looked away.

And then it was gone. There was something about the man standing before her that made her re-think what her father asked of her and decided she would try her best to do it, besides, she had always tried her best in her life to help people when she could.

"For what I said, I was being insensitive. After all, we are buddies, well, at least until you get used to your new job."

Zero didn't look at Yuuki as she expected, in fact, he said nothing. Suddenly the lift came to a stop on the ground floor and he walked out without a word. Yuuki stood there for a moment in shock, just what did it take for this man to open up to her? Sure they had only just met this morning but still! Yuuki had trained other people before, and they usually would have great conversations.

As the doors were about to close, and Zero's figure began to get smaller as he walked away from her, she held her arm in between the doors causing them to automatically open again as she marched toward her new partner.

"Hey Zero!" she asked. "Look, I don't know what your problem is, but its fine if you don't accept me as your buddy," she said.

They both walked out the large glass doors of the Police Station and began to walk down the street. "But I'm here to help you. I can see that for what ever reason, you were demoted and its upsetting you but, I understand-"

"No, you don't understand," exclaimed Zero, turning around suddenly.

His eyes spoke volumes. They were twisted with rage and regret or something close to regret.

"I don't do _desk work_, and I definitely don't play nice. You're a nice girl and everything, but I hate where I am now. The only reason I'm staying in this worthless job is because I've got something I have to finish," said Zero, and in a more calm reasonable voice he explained something else at seeing her reaction. "There are some things that people just _can't_ get away with, Yuuki. And that's the only reason I'm here, not because I want to be."

Yuuki watched Zero walk down the street, his hands in his pockets and his silver hair shining in the sunlight. She watched his back as he walked away from her, his figure slowly getting smaller and smaller until it totally disappeared around a corner. Her brown orbs were filled with unshed tears, yet, she didn't understand why. Perhaps it was because it hurt that he thought so little of her.

She didn't know him well at all, although, she did recognise him from some files and had seen him once or twice through her father. That's right, he was a detective. In fact, now that she recalled where she had seen him, she realised that he had indeed fallen from a large height. He was the man whom was responsible for at least thirty percent of their city's criminal activity being shut down; he was a legend within the precinct. He had been called Zero Tolerance as a nickname, for a zero tolerance attitude toward criminals. He _was_ justice and was well appreciated for it by being compensated for his achievements by the top brass all the time. Yuuki bit her lip in thought.

_Just what happened to you Zero? Who is it you're after? A criminal? Someone higher up than us? What made you fall so far?_

_

* * *

_

Zero stopped as he rounded the corner and leant against the wall of the empty alleyway, in deep thought. He didn't like acting the way he did but it was necessary. After all, he didn't plan on staying in this job for much longer so there was no use playing nice, especially with someone as beautiful and nice as the Chief's daughter. He was sure she wouldn't appreciate him leaving after becoming friends without a word, so it was necessary to be cold and rude to her to make her dislike him so she wouldn't care if he left or not.

Now all he had to do was gather evidence, before he got attached to anyone. Not that it would be possible to be attached to _that_ girl. After all, she was just some woman, just like the rest.

* * *

**A/N: **_Well that's if for now. I could go on, but I tend to make my chapters a bit too long. Please read and review,_

_Bullet2tm_


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